How did I end up in Montana? I was lucky, I guess.

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A Crazy Week In and Out of the Garden

I try to make a point to never wish time away…but quite frankly, I wanted to get to the end of the week so I could do the work in my garden plot that I have been planning in my head for months.

The increasingly dry and very warm temperatures made it imperative that the water be turned on in the community garden…but being new to the management side of things, I wasn’t really certain how it worked. I emailed Holly at Biggy’s, the landscaping company that installed the spigots, to start the ball rolling. After various emails, the water was turned on, but the city then needed to do its part, so we waited some more.

This took more time and energy than I expected. Now I know.

Complicating matters is that the City of Columbia Falls has closed the park for two weeks where our garden is located in order to have a brilliant company called Forestoration redo the entrance. Gardeners have permission to go in after 5pm and on the weekends–making it tough to be on top of the water situation. We cannot park in the gravel parking lot–instead we park in the street and walk in, which is not a terrible hardship unless you have to haul in water brought from home because the water inside the garden hasn’t been turned on. It has been so dry that we just couldn’t wait any longer.

On Tuesday, the water was finally was flowing, and I stopped by at 5pm to water–quickly, because I had to be back at the school to give a speech at the National Honor Society induction ceremony. That was a bit stressful–the watering and the anxiety about the speech. My speech seemed to go okay…notwithstanding the coughing fit I had in the middle of it. Of course, no one is going to tell me my speech was horrifyingly dull, so I’ll never really know. Phew! That’s over!

As I am getting out of the shower the next morning, my phone rings. It is a fellow gardener, letting me know that a spigot is broken and there is three feet of water around said faucet. I rushed to the garden to shut off the main valve. No apparent water damage, but the spigot was completely detached. I ran back to get ready for work–my hair never looked quite right for the rest of the day.

More emails. Throw in the usual rides to karate practice, shopping for garden items, buying Mother’s Day cards, making dinner, etc…it was a full week. Incidentally, it was also the first week that my husband was back to work for the season.

By Friday, the spigot was reconnected, water was flowing once again, and life was running more smoothly. Beer me! After work on Friday, my husband and I went to our watering hole, the Desert Mountain Brewing and Draughthaus. I was so been looking forward to it…the weather was stunning, the beer was tasty, and we got to see our friends Craig and Staci (also plot holders in the garden). Coincidentally, I finally actually met Holly from the Biggy’s Landscaping–you know, the one I had been emailing all week. Small towns are great that way. After a couple beers, Staci and Craig joined us next door at the Three Forks Grille where we had some dinner and then walked back to our house. It was a good time.

Today, after a trip to a local gardening center, I was able to finish mounding my plots, and piling straw in the walkways (always looking for ways to keep the pasture grass at bay). I brought all of my vegetable supports down, and had to walk them the distance from the car parked in the street to my plot which is the furthest away from the door. At one point, arms filled, I noticed movement in my peripheral vision, and was startled to see a very large spider crawling out of the “shelf” of my tank top. In my panic, I flung all the support structures I was carrying. Ugh. Shudder.

I planted kale, a few more garlics, leeks, parsnip seeds, bush bean seeds, broccoli, marigolds, and nasturtiums. I decided to try the “red mulch” permeable plastic under my tomatoes (which won’t be planted for a couple more weeks). I pulled more grass, set up my cucumber and squash support trellis and placed my tomato cages in the appropriate rows. The I watered the entire plot, and realized that I was really sunburned. I came home, and sent an update email to the plot holders (which, retrospectively reads like a “don’t don’t don’t” list–not quite what I intended–hopefully they won’t feel too brow-beaten).

Looking down the length of my garden plot(s).

I love the plot holders in the garden this year. We have 20 families, of all sizes, ages, belief systems, and garden expertise…and it is fascinating. Every time I go to the garden, there are plot holders working hard, battling pasture grass, getting dirty and planting vegetables. We are sharing ideas and plants–which, as I’ve stated before, is what a community garden is about. They are quality people.

Wider shot

It feels good to know that I did everything I set out to do this weekend in the garden (except plant the first flush of carrot seeds…I will do that tomorrow). Tomorrow morning I will mow and trim the garden, and then come home to tackle my own yard. Perhaps because of my spider experience, I still feel like I have things crawling on me. And my back feels rather as if it is on fire. You’d think by forty years old I would learn to use sunscreen. Nope.

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